Night had already fallen when Fan Ciwu arrived at Liangshanji.
Looking at the black night sky outside, Wang Jun smiled and said, "Brother Fan, you came after dinner, right...?"
"Of course not," Fan Ciwu said with a smile on his face.
Food is scarce now, so every meal you save counts.
Not only did he and his followers come with empty stomachs, but even the horses they rode did not have much food or fodder.
Looking at the smoke from the cooking not far away, Fan Ciwu coughed lightly and said, "Brother Wang, you probably haven't eaten yet, right? Please add a few pairs of chopsticks when you eat. I will be very grateful."
"You..." Wang Jun shook his head and sighed helplessly.
Fan Ciwu brought more than twenty followers with him, and so many mouths could eat dozens of kilograms of food in one meal.
He didn't have much food left.
After all, the other party was a guest, and as a hospitable Shandong native, Wang Jun could only take out bowls and chopsticks to entertain him.
After dinner, the two sat opposite each other in a small room.
At this time, Wang Jun also knew the news about the tax silver. He asked directly: "Brother Fan, are you here for the tax silver matter?"
"Yes," Fan Ciwu nodded, "The Yuyuan Army is in urgent need of money and food. This silver can be used as an emergency relief."
"I thought so too, but I'm afraid there's something fishy going on." Wang Jun's expression was serious.
"You mean... the tax silver thing is a figment of the imagination?"
"No," Wang Jun shook his head gently. "The court is inspecting salt in Jiangnan and selling official positions, which has caused a lot of trouble. Now that so much time has passed, it's time to transport silver to the capital. I'm afraid that the court will use the silver as bait to lure us to leave Yuyuan and rob the silver."
"Once we leave Yuyuan, we will be no match for the government troops. If we are ambushed by the government troops again, not only will we fail to rob the silver, but we will also suffer heavy casualties."
Fan Ciwu sighed, "Ah! I understand the truth, but the food is almost gone! Li Dingguo's tens of thousands of soldiers are stationed in several nearby cities. We don't have the strength and opportunity to capture the city. If we don't rob the silver, tens of thousands of Yuyuan soldiers will either disband on the spot or starve to death."
Wang Jun was silent for a while.
Of course, he can also understand the principles that Fan Ciwu can understand.
"Let's do it!" Wang Jun gritted his teeth and said, "The court will not give us silver for free. If we want money, we have to rob it."
"How do you rob?"
"Like before, we will ambush on the road that the tax silver must pass through, and when the government troops escorting the tax silver pass by, we will use fire to attack them, and take advantage of the chaos of the government troops to rush in. If the government troops escorting the silver are a mob, then we will repel them and pull the carriage and the silver back to Yuyuan."
"If you can't defeat the government troops, find a way to rob the silver, then take the silver and flee to the nearby Yuyuan Garden and dig into the tunnel."
Fan Ciwu was very satisfied with Wang Jun's battle plan. "Okay, let's do as you say."
"Is there any movement from Ren Qi's side?" Wang Jun asked Fan Ciwu.
"What do you mean by movement?"
"Has he had any contact with the government troops?"
"I deployed a large number of spies outside Yuyuan, and found no signs of him contacting the government troops."
Wang Jun thought for a moment and asked, "Could there be any spies from the imperial court among the people who go to the porridge factory to eat porridge?"
"It's hard to say. There are at least thousands of people going to the porridge factory to eat porridge every day, and my people can't handle it all." Fan Ciwu replied.
Wang Jun said seriously: "Then we cannot rule out the suspicion that Ren Qi is a traitor. We cannot let him participate in this robbery."
"This..." Fan Ciwu was embarrassed: "Ren Qi is one of the leaders of the Yuyuan Army after all. Although he accepted the imperial court's offer of amnesty, he returned to Yuyuan."
"Whether he participates in the robbery is probably beyond the control of you and me."
"Ren Qi cannot be trusted. If he sells us out during the robbery, the Yuyuan Army might be destroyed." Wang Jun reminded, "So we must find a way to prevent him from getting involved."
Fan Ciwu scratched his head and thought for a while: "It's difficult, does my brother have any solution?"
"Let me think about it." Wang Jun turned around and picked up a copy of "The Art of War" from the table behind him and began to cram.
After reading it twice, Wang Jun put down the Art of War.
Fan Ciwu asked quickly, "Any clues?"
"No clue."
"What should we do then?"
Wang Jun thought for a moment and said, "When you go back, find a way to meet Ren Qi and see what his attitude is. If I'm not mistaken, he probably wouldn't dare to rob the silver."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll know if you ask. There's no point in saying more."
"What if he intends to rob the silver?"
"Then let him rob first, and we'll line up behind him."
"Can you still do this?"
"What else? People's hearts are hard to predict. We have to be on guard." As Wang Jun spoke, he opened the door and walked into the yard, looking at the starry sky and expressing endless emotion.
At the same time in Yu Garden, Ren Qi met the secret envoy sent by Li Dingguo.
"A batch of tax silver from the imperial court will soon pass by Yuyuan, and the imperial court wants to take this opportunity to quell the uprising in Yuyuan." The secret envoy said straight to the point.
Ren Qi blinked and asked, "What instructions did General Li give us? Did he want us to be the insiders and sell them out when Fan Ciwu and Wang Jun robbed the silver?"
"No," the emissary shook his head. "General Li wants you to stay in Yu Garden and keep your troops in place."
"Ah?" Ren Qi was a little surprised.
The other leaders were even more surprised.
"Why doesn't General Li let us send troops? Doesn't he trust us?" Ren Qi asked.
"No," the emissary answered seriously, "It is precisely because General Li trusts you that he allows you to stay in Yu Garden."
"We have to do something, right?"
"You just need to follow the orders in this secret letter. There is no need to worry about anything else." The secret envoy took out a sealed envelope from his arms and handed it to Ren Qi.
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